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Re: RAF Leeming - Possibly...

I think these photos were taken from 10 Sqn aircraft. If you look at bottom right your will see H 10 and B 10, possibly aircraft coded H and B of 10 Sqn. I have seen similar annotations on target photos from 7 Sqn. 10 Sqn were based at Leeming until Aug 42 when they moved to Melbourne. This would tie in nicely with the MEL annotation on the left with the target date.

Re: Leeming

I had a look in the book 'Melbourne Ten' by Brian Rapier and similarly annotated photographs are in there too . The letter and number next to the pilots name are the aircraft callsign and squadron number . The target photographs posted above are without doubt from 10 Squadron Halifax aircraft and the book also lists the dates and targets of the squadron operations which coincide with the 1944 dates . I will post the book details in the Research Media section . Interestingly in 1945 DFC's were awarded to A/FL George Blackwell and F/L Frederick Rose both of 10 Squadron and perhaps the same gentlemen named on the photographs ?

Re: RAF Leeming - Possibly...

Originally Posted by canberra

Another possibilty is Medmenham library. Medmenham was the home of recce HQ and was where I would have thought all photos taken would have eventually ended up. Maybe someone who has contacts in the RAF recce world can help us?

Information on the location of RAF aerial reconnaissance photographs is shown at the following link

Re: Leeming

From David Thompson

The streets of a small North Yorkshire town were lined with well-wishers
and proud families as personnel from 2 Force Protection Wing, RAF Regiment,
including 34 Sqn RAF Regiment, celebrated their homecoming from Afghanistan.

The parade through Bedale today (January 21 2010), was accompanied by the
Band of the RAF Regiment and marked the end of a difficult seven-month
commitment for the squadron, which lost Cpl Marcin Wojtak to an IED explosion
on 1 October.

Following the parade, personnel were presented with their campaign medals
in a ceremony attended by Deputy HM Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Air
Commodore Simon Bostock RAF (Retd), Station Commander RAF Leeming, Group
Captain William Gibson, and Mayor of Bedale, Wanda Reynolds. The event
concluded with a reception for parade personnel.

Those on parade were deeply touched by the support shown by the people of
Bedale. Squadron Leader ‘George’ Formby, Officer Commanding 34 Sqn RAF
Regiment said: “It was an emotional day and we were very impressed by the
turn-out. We certainly didn’t expect that many people – it was a very warm
welcome. The guys have now seen for themselves just how respected they are and
how appreciative people are of the job they are doing. It was a very
poignant day with the high point of coming back set against the low point of
losing Cpl Wojtak. It was a fitting opportunity for the whole squadron to
remember him together.”

Returning from his first operational tour was SAC Gavin Mason. He was
also overwhelmed by the support received from the people of Bedale “It’s hard
to put it into words but it made the hair stand up on the back of my neck
that people would come out and clap for us. It was a hard deployment but I’
ve done it and know what’s expected in the future. I’m part of the team
now.”

Gavin, who celebrated his 20th birthday in Afghanistan, also remembered his
colleague who did not make it home. He said: “Marcin will not be
forgotten – he was the one person we could always go to if we had any problems.”

RAF Leeming’s Station Commander, Group Captain William Gibson added: “It
is a tremendous honour to welcome back 2 Force Protection Wing. We are
extremely appreciative of the support provided by the Mayor and the town’s
people of Bedale to all at RAF Leeming and the Regiment in particular. We would
like to thank them all for the tremendous support to us as part of the
local community.”

2 Force Protection Wing’s role at Camp Bastion was to work alongside
international forces to protect the air base, and in particular the air assets
which operate out of there on a daily basis. This involved conducting daily
patrols outside the base and forming relationships with the local
community and elders in order to build their trust.

34 Sqn RAF Regiment personnel also formed part of the Medical Evacuation
Response Team (MERT), a Chinook reaction team attending to military and
civilian casualties. The 34 Sqn personnel provided close protection which
enabled medics and doctors to tend to their patients as safely as possible
within a potentially fraught environment.

2 Force Protection Wing have now had some much-deserved leave, and are
getting ready to enter a new training phase before their next deployment later
this year.

Re: Leeming

Operational with 100 Squadron flying Hawks , 90 Signals Unit , 34 Squadron RAF Regiment , 609 (WR) Squadron RAuxAF , 10 Field Squadron (REME) , JFACTSU , YUAS and NUAS the last two with Grob Tutors . Its mission statement is "The role of RAF Leeming is to train for , deliver and support UK and Expetitionary air operations" . A load of bull***t I know but that seems to be the corporate view of the Royal Air Force these days !